WHOLE Article - The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 3

[Guest guest]

sent last one without full arcitle

trial vax contained " about 10 times the usual dose of live-virus chickenpox

vaccine "

" For his participation, Jimmy`s family got a $50 gift certificate, with

another to come at the end of a 42-day safety follow-up period when his

blood would be drawn again to see if ProQuad worked. "

anyone who would put their child in a drug/vaccine research

study................well...............I won't even say it.

Sheri

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/article_1159532.

php/The_Age_of_Autism_Pox_--_Part_3

The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 3

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- When 12-month-old Jimmy Flinton

joined a clinical trial of a new immunization for chickenpox, measles,

mumps and rubella, no one told his family it contained about 10 times the

usual dose of live-virus chickenpox vaccine.

And no one considered whether his family`s unusual chickenpox history --

including adolescent shingles and herpesvirus in the eyes -- might raise

the risk of adverse reactions to the vaccine.

Now that Jimmy has been diagnosed with regressive autism, they wish someone

had done so.

In 2002 Jimmy`s mom, Flinton, signed a seven-page 'Research

Subject Consent Form -- Vaccine Study (Children)' at the office of her

pediatrician in Olympia, Wash.

'Your child is invited to be in a research study,' reads the form, which

lists Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, N.J., as the sponsor. 'You need to

decide whether or not you want your child to be in this study. Please take

your time to make your decision.'

The purpose was 'to test the safety of the study vaccine, ProQuad

refrigerated and to show that this vaccine provides a similar level of

protection as compared to another study vaccine, ProQuad frozen.' Both

versions contained attenuated -- substantially weakened -- live viruses

designed to trick the body into developing immunity to real-live measles,

mumps, rubella (German measles) and chickenpox.

Previously, those first three vaccines were combined into one shot called

the MMR, made by Merck; the chickenpox vaccine came in a separate shot

called Varivax, also by Merck.

ProQuad was Merck`s investigational vaccine designed to put all four in one

shot.

Tests already had determined ProQuad required more chickenpox virus than

Varivax to produce the same level of immunity. A phenomenon called immune

interference, in which viruses interact and interfere with each other in

the human body, rendered the dose from the standalone vaccine insufficient.

The consent form Flinton signed did not say anything about more

chickenpox virus. It simply said ProQuad was 'a combination of two licensed

vaccines,' the MMR and Varivax.

Merck wouldn`t confirm exactly how much more chickenpox virus is in

ProQuad, characterizing it only as 'higher.' But in 2004, a Merck scientist

said the amount in ProQuad was 'about a log' -- 10 times -- higher,

according to minutes of a meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

As already reported in this series, Jimmy Flinton`s family is one of

several in the same Olympia neighborhood who spotted a common thread: They

had unusual histories of chickenpox and other herpesviruses in their

families; their child got the chickenpox and MMR shots in close temporal

proximity, often at the same 12-month office visit when both are first

recommended; and the child subsequently was diagnosed with regressive autism.

Jimmy is one of two children who were in small trials at age 12 months of

chickenpox and MMR vaccines. Jimmy`s group had 33 participants, according

to the Western Institutional Review Board in Olympia, which approved the

protocol.

The second child was among 68 trialing Merck 'process upgrade' chickenpox

shots given with the standard MMR.

The local trials were part of Merck studies of the vaccines in the United

States and abroad. Spokeswoman Fanelle would not address whether

any other cases of autism had been reported in the broader trials, but she

emphasized that neither Merck not independent experts have found a relation

between vaccines and autism.

'We don`t see an association,' she said, citing as confirmation a 2004

report by the widely respected Institute of Medicine, part of the National

Academies. That report rejected a link between autism and either the MMR

vaccine or the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal, and it urged

that research dollars be spent on 'more promising' autism research.

'There will always be some people who say vaccines cause autism despite the

lack of scientific evidence,' Fanelle said.

Based on their admittedly anecdotal observations, however, the Olympia

parents are concerned that inherited problems handling vaccine viruses may

be an overlooked risk factor for autism in some children.

Jimmy Flinton`s paternal grandmother, Southon, had a routine case of

chickenpox in kindergarten. Fifteen years later, in 1970, she developed

shingles on her right leg -- painful, blister-like pustules at nerve

endings caused by reactivated chickenpox virus.

That is decidedly not routine. Shingles usually occur in older people or

those with immune suppression, such as cancer patients undergoing

chemotherapy.

'I was a healthy 20-year-old woman,' Southon said, recalling her surprise

at the outbreak. The infection lasted several weeks and left her with

permanent mild circulatory weakness in her leg and edema just above the ankle.

'I remember how painful it was and how it seemed to go on for the longest

time,' said Southon, who lives in Olympia. She was going through a divorce

at the time and suspects stress might have triggered the outbreak. She also

suffered from lifelong recurrent cold sores, another herpesvirus.

Twenty years later, in 1990, Southon made a painful mistake that reminded

her of that vulnerability.

'What happened was, I stuck a hard contact (lens) in my mouth, not knowing

I was getting a cold sore. I put it into my eye and did it with the other

contact, too.

'I developed cold sores on both corneas. That was very painful and went on

for several weeks before the doctors finally figured out what it was,' she

said. The doctor put her on medication for shingles and the problem cleared

up, though not before doing damage she says will one day require cornea

transplants.

Coincidentally or not, Southon said she has not had any cold sores since

she took the shingles medicine.

Her son, Flinton, also had chickenpox as a child. At age 15, got

shingles, too -- also remarkable, doubly so given his mother`s similar

history. The shingles spread along his neck, primarily on the right side,

up to his jaw line; he even had a spot on his forehead.

'The doctor did diagnose it as shingles and was just amazed someone that

young had developed it,' Southon recalled. It was also a stressful period

in life`s, she said, but the ongoing family pattern suggests unusual,

inherited susceptibility to the virus.

'It just seems there is a genetic weakness towards it, a tendency to pick

up the herpesvirus and run with it,' Southon said. Given that, they

might not have enrolled son`s Jimmy in the ProQuad trial if they knew

it had 10 times the standard dose of chickenpox virus.

She questioned why Merck would allow a child with Jimmy`s family background

to test any chickenpox vaccine.

'It`s heartbreaking to think this could have been prevented if they (Merck)

had done a little more research or had been a little more imaginative in

(considering) what could have happened,' she said.

'I just think the rush to develop the vaccine is criminal. Why would they

want to give babies 10 times the amount of the virus? Where is the thinking

on that?'

Several vaccine researchers who remain concerned abut a possible autism

link told this column they find the Olympia cluster, and Jimmy`s case in

particular, deeply disturbing. The children`s histories fit one of the

major vaccine-autism hypotheses like a surgical glove: the idea that

interference among live viruses in vaccines could warp the body`s natural

immune response, leading to persistent infection and delayed neurological

problems.

After Age of Autism outlined the cases to him last month, British

gastroenterologist Dr. Wakefield -- the chief proponent of that

controversial theory -- met with several of the Olympia parents. He called

their stories heartbreaking and likened the experience to 'staring into an

abyss' of unintended vaccination consequences that he fears are not

confined to Olympia.

'The key to many of the problems you see with viral vaccines is

interference,' he said afterward.

'The host control of a viral infection is fundamentally mediated through an

adequate immune response, and that immune response has been conditioned by

tens of thousands of years of evolution,' said Wakefield. 'And the outcome

of an infection is dependent on the pattern of exposure.

'So measles is innocuous when encountered under normal circumstances of

dose and age of exposure. But when it`s encountered under atypical

circumstances early in life, particularly at high dose, then the outcome is

very different. And the problem for these viruses is persistence and

delayed disease,' he said.

'So if they can establish persistent infection, elude the host immune

response, then they can all come back and cause delayed disease later in

life.'

'And herpesviruses do exactly the same thing,' he added.

'What alarms me about the cavalier approach of the industry and everybody

else, the regulators, to these viruses is they presume the wild infection

to be nasty and the vaccines to be innocuous -- that they can manipulate

something that is biologically highly intelligent and exploit it to their

advantage.

'And they can`t. The viruses don`t behave like that and they never will.

They merely come back to haunt you as something different.'

Wakefield, who left Britain in the wake of the controversy generated by his

theories and now is conducting research in the United States, said it is

well-established that problems coping with viruses can be inherited. His

theories are based on research into the MMR vaccine; Britain does not give

routine chickenpox immunizations.

The Institute of Medicine`s 2004 report dismissed Wakefield`s concerns as

speculation untethered to any scientific foundation. It said 'the body of

epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between

the MMR vaccine and autism. ... The committee further finds that potential

biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism that have been generated

to date are theoretical only.'

'The overwhelming evidence from several well-designed studies indicates

that childhood vaccines are not associated with autism,' said Dr. Marie

McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health, who chaired the IOM`s

immunization review committee.

'We strongly support ongoing research to discover the cause or causes of

this devastating disorder. Resources would be used most effectively if they

were directed toward those avenues of inquiry that offer the greatest

promise for answers. Without supporting evidence, the vaccine hypothesis

does not hold such promise.'

The CDC, whose Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends the

childhood vaccination schedule that states adopt, funded the Institute of

Medicine study along with the National Institutes of Health.

'Groups of experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, agree

that MMR vaccine is not responsible for recent increases in the number of

children with autism,' the CDC noted.

'The existing studies that suggest a causal relationship between MMR

vaccine and autism have generated media attention,' the CDC said. 'However,

these studies have significant weaknesses and are far outweighed by the

epidemiologic studies that have consistently failed to show a causal

relationship between MMR vaccine and autism.'

On Oct. 30, 2002, Flinton had his blood drawn as a baseline

for the clinical trial in Olympia. At the same office visit, he got the

ProQuad shot -- the refrigerated version, as it turned out.

For his participation, Jimmy`s family got a $50 gift certificate, with

another to come at the end of a 42-day safety follow-up period when his

blood would be drawn again to see if ProQuad worked.

Last September, the Food and Drug Administration approved frozen ProQuad

for children 12 months to 12 years old. Merck said it is still working on

the refrigerated version.

--

Next: Downward spiral

--

This ongoing series of columns on the roots and rise of autism welcomes

reader response. Links to all the columns are available at

theageofautism.com. E-mail: dolmsted@...

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

[Guest guest]

>For his participation, Jimmy`s family got a $50 gift certificate, with

another to come at the end of a 42-day safety follow-up period when his

blood would be drawn again to see if ProQuad worked.

And they wouldn't do it again for 50k. The sad thing is that they won't see a

cent in recompence either. What a bargain experiment for Merck. A normal life

was gambled with and lost for a measly $100. These parents will live with the

terrible pain of guilt to the end and Merck won't skip a beat as they continue

to harm the innocent. Sickening!

There goes the hair on the back of neck again.

Anita

Sheri Nakken <snakken@...> wrote:

sent last one without full arcitle

trial vax contained " about 10 times the usual dose of live-virus chickenpox

vaccine "

" For his participation, Jimmy`s family got a $50 gift certificate, with

another to come at the end of a 42-day safety follow-up period when his

blood would be drawn again to see if ProQuad worked. "

anyone who would put their child in a drug/vaccine research

study................well...............I won't even say it.

Sheri

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/article_1159532.

The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 3

---------------------------------

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